Bravely Frozen
by The curiosity of Tom
Summary: Merida is usually not afraid of anything. She had never been very nervous about anything before getting sorted into Hogwarts. Just after the ceremony she saw something that exited her, intrigued her and frightened her to the bone. She had never felt anything like it. What she saw was the most beautiful girl she had even laid her eyes on; Her new friend Anna's sister, Elsa Frost.
1. Chapter 1, The First Time

**The First Time**

Merida stood amongst the new students, in the entrance hall of Hogwarts. The guy that had brought them here, by boat, had said a teacher would retrieve them shortly. She had come to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry after receiving a strange letter. An old woman, with a talking crow, had come and told Merida that she was a witch, while trying to sell woodcarvings to her parents. She first thought that the old lady was trying to insult her but after she had been explained what it meant it didn't surprise her much. Strange things had happened around her, like her mother turning into an animal. It was nice to know there had been a reason for that to happen.

Merida was rarely nervous, sometimes she thought she was immune to fear. Now she knew she had no such immunity. She wasn't as frightened as her classmates, some of them looked like they would throw up. One of them said that they had to do some kind of a magical ceremony. Merida really didn't want to try magic yet. Since she had accidentally turned her mother into a bear, she felt powerful, but not in control. What if she turned someone else into something else? Or a bear again, what it was didn't matter much.

Before she could think too much about what that meant someone spoke to the frightened bunch, some jumped at the unexpected sound of the teacher that would lead them to their fates in a moment, Merida merely looked up, despite her nervousness. The teacher had freakishly long blond hair, wore a pink robe and looked a bit naive, though weirdly that didn't seem to make any of the students question any of her authority.

"Greetings first-years and welcome to Hogwarts. I'm professor Fitzherbert." Said the weird blonde. Some of the students giggled at the strange name, but was quickly silenced by the blondes glare. "The welcoming feast will be served soon, but before that you all will have to be sorted to one of the four houses. You will spend your time together, take classes together, and be totally like family! The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuf, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Every house has a history of amazing wizards and witches. While you live in your house, your actions will affect the house, if you are a good kid, you will get points, if you are a bad one they will be taken away. At the end of the year the house with the most points will be awarded the house cup. Please honer your houses and be good kids no matter where you get sorted!" She hesitated for a moment and looked at them. "We are running a bit late, please wait for a bit perhaps talk to the ghosts."

Just before she said that last bit a big group of transparent people had floated into the hall, accompanied by shrieks of the new students. Professor Fitzherbert had already left the hall leaving them all alone. Only the ghosts spoke for a few moments before a lively girl with red hair, braids and a lot of freckles yelled "Hey aren't you Jack Frost?!" The ghost she addressed looked at the girl like he couldn't understand what just had happened, Merida almost for some reason thought he would say 'Can you SEE me?!' which didn't even make sense in the situation.

This started the talked amongst students and ghost, though most of the students talked amongst themselves rather then the ghosts. Merida tried to hear what the freckled girl and the ghost, who was talking rather much now, was talking about, but she couldn't. She couldn't find out the reason behind the strange outburst nor the even stranger reaction to it. She was about to aproach them when a ghost talked to her, or rather made a gesture as if he wanted to.

The ghost was covered in sand. It seemed like he had control over the sand, it made shapes and forms that made little sense. This made her a bit confused and she just stared at the strange ghost as it tried to show her something. As she stood there astonished a voice whispered in her ear: "Thats sandy, he is mute." Merida turned and looked at a girl that could only be described as a viking. While she was turning the viking girl continued. "My family told me about him, he is the house ghost of Hufflepuf" Merida raised her eyebrows and asked, "The houses have ghosts?"

As she noted Meridas confusion Astrid smiled and said: "Ah you must be from a muggle family. I'm halfblood so I have been told a little about this and yeah they have ghosts, as I said sandy is the one from Hufflepuf, Gryffindor has Mufasa who looks like a lion, Slytherin has Gaston and Ravenclaw has Jack who is talking with that readhead over there." Sandy who looked annoyed at the interruption made an arrow pointing to professor Fitzherbert, who had just returned. "Alright! Stand in line and follow me!" said the professor.

And so they formed a line and walked into the great hall. Merida was almost amazed by the grandness, the flying candles and the night sky on the roof of the hall to forget how nervous she was. Almost. They were placed in front of the teachers table and a hat was placed on a stool in front of them by Professor Fitzherbert. It to Meridas amazement sang a song about the character of the houses that was followed by an applause. The song also explained how the sorting would proceed.

Merida felt immediate relief when she heard that she didn't have to do something to do with magic right away: That was best done in a controlled classroom. "When I call your name, go sit on the stool and put on the hat. The hat will tell you your house. I will say your surnames first. The first to be sorted is Bjorgman, Kristof!" professor Fitzherbert informed them, then a strange-looking blonde guy stepped up, sat on the stool and put on the hat. Some moments later the hat yelled: "Hufflepuf!"

The table at the far right burst applauded as Kristof made his way that table. Even though Merida was relieved she didn't have to do magic, she could still feel some of the nervousness lingering in her mind. She didn't register any of the students called before her she only barely heard that the professor yelled her own name when it was yelled "DunBroch, Merida!"

Meridas nerves didn't show when she walked over to the stool, sat and put it on. As soon as she out it on she heard the voice, that she recognized as the one that had yelled 'Hufflepuf', in her head: "So much bravery, this is very easy. You will be placed in Gryffindor!" He only yelled 'Griffindor' out loud for the hall to hear. As she walked to her own table she was applauded by the rest of her new house and was congratulated as she sat beside them.

As the nervousness from before had finally vanished Merida could finally inspect the houses: She first looked over to the Slytherin table. she had heard very bad things about them on the ride here and they looked like a bunch of bullies, she was glad she didn't end up there. She then looked at the Hufflepuf table where the first guy had been sorted. They were a strange bunch but they looked like

agreeable people. She then looked at the Ravenclaw table, where she couldn't make a general thought. 'Well they all look smart' she thought as she looked at them and then she saw two blue and sparkling eyes.

The eyes belonged to a beautiful platinum blonde with a braid over her left shoulder. At first Merida didn't notice that, as she was staring at the beauty, that the girl looked directly back into Meridas eyes. Even though she blushed and was embarrassed she couldn't look away. It was impossible to look away from the blonde. The blonde averted her eyes to the sorting as a name was called: "Frost, Anna!" The redheaded girl that had talked to the Ravenclaw ghost stepped up to be sorted.

Merida only barely heard the hat yell 'Gryffindor' before she asked one of the second-years, "Who is that gorgeous blonde Ravenclaw girl with the braid over her shoulder?" and the answer came not from the second-year she had asked but from the voice of a girl behind her: "That's my sister, Elsa." The girl who had answered Merida was none other then the redhead from before.

Merida looked at Anna with wide surprised eyes. There was so many things she wanted to ask the girl. Like who was her sister? Did she mind her sudden attraction to said sister? Would she introduce her? What was it that she talked to the ghost about? Why did the sisters share name with him? Were they related in somehow?

She didn't get to ask her questions as the second-year, that Merida had asked who Elsa was, said "So you ARE from that family!" and asked "I thought the Frosts only went to Ravenclaw?" Anna seemed to be a little bothered by the question as she answered "Yeah, so did my family." and glanced over at Elsa as she continued, "I wonder what my dad will say." they didn't get to talk more about it as they were hushed by an older student wearing some kind of a badge.

Merida was distracted the rest of the sorting. She tried to keep her attention on her new classmates, as they were told where they would live for the next seven years, but her eyes often crept back to Elsa. One moment she was looking at a nervous wreck with a hat on, the next her eyes was on the blondes, much to her surprise. One she followed enough to remember was "Hofferson, Astrid!", that was sorted to Gryffindor as well. It felt like no time had passed at all when the last first-year was sorted: "Westergård, Hans!" was sorted to Slytherin. Anna made a whispered comment to Astrid and Merida, "Aww he was kinda cute. Guess you never can tell, like that hat can.."

The old lady that had told her she was a witch, who apearently was the headmistress, held a short speech, that Merida didn't remember at all and started the feast. The feast was the biggest feast Merida had seen in her life and with her fathers love for food she had seen some amazing feasts. She unintentionally let out her amazement in a gasp and she was not alone, some of the first-years even yelled out an amazed "Woah!"

As the feast started so did the talk. The buzz of a new school, or for the older students return of school, had put an incredible amount of energy in the room. Astrid that had placed herself opposite of Merida now smiled and said "Hey there!" with a smile and continued "I never caught your name?" while she had filled her plate with a diet that reminded her of her fathers, almost only meat.

Merida hesitated, she wanted to ask her questions now that they didn't have to be quiet. In a way it was strange for her to introduce herself as their names had just been announced by the professor but it was only polite, Merida thought as she answered. Her mother would have been proud of the thought. "I'm Merida," she said and was about to continue when Anna blurted out in a fast pace "Hi! I'm Anna. I totally love your accent! Are you Scottish? How did you get your hair like that? It's really, really beautiful!" pronouncing Anna like Ah-na.

Merida laughed at the rushed way the girl had talked. "This? It's been like this all along. But thanks! And yeah i'm Scottish." Astrid who had laughed along with Merida introduced herself to Anna, "Hey! I'm Astrid," while she looked over at Anna and smiled while she said "I feel like we could be really good friends! Us three!"

They spent the rest of the feast talking about everything and nothing, well everything except Annas sister who Merida was too scared to ask about. It was only when they exhausted after a long trip and a big feast had been lead to their common rooms by one of those badged older students, through a portrait one might add, that Merida mustered to ask one of her questions: "Will you introduce me to your sister?"

In this question Anna could, even through her naivety, see what this meant. She could see Meridas attraction to her sister. She could see that Merida had wanted to ask this as soon as Anna had talked to her. She was, to her own surprise, not bothered by it. She was not bothered by the fact that a girl liked her sister or that this girl was her new friend Merida, she had just met. She even kind of rooted for the girl. But the only thing she could do was to answer the question in a sad voice: "I would, if I could. Elsa hasn't talked to me in a long time."


	2. Chapter 2, Three Idiots and a Ghost

**Three Idiots and a Ghost**

The first weeks of Meridas time in Hogwarts was interesting or maybe fantastic would have been a better word to describe it. For an adventurous soul like her this was the place to be. She had always loved the fairytales with magic when she was younger. She used countless of hours exploring the strange castle.

The lessons were fun. She had never went to a school that was fun or interesting. She had always ached to get outside run around and practice with her archery. She was an average student. Not the best but certainly not the worst, with the exception of transfiguration in which she excelled at abnormally. Professor Fitzherbert, who teached the subject, called it raw talent.

She absolutely loathed History of Magic. It was often spent whispering with her friends. She talked a lot about Elsa with Anna. Despite how sad she was that she was being ignored, Anna loved talking about her sister.

"It seems like the only one she talks to is that ghost Jack Frost. Who is he?" Merida whispered during one of the before mentioned torture sessions. Anna smiled at my never-ending fascination of her sister before she answered; "Well besides being the house ghost of Ravenclaw, he is an ancestor of our family. He was well known for his ice magic, even in muggle society. You haven't heard of him?"

This made Merida giggle a little. "Well I'm not that interested in history" she whispered back as she absent-mindedly watched the ridiculous toupee of their history professor slowly fall off his head. "Well muggles have a legend of him being the bringer of winter or something, they don't even know he was a real person." Anna said just as absent-mindedly, just as class ended.

"Finally!" Merida cheered as soon as professor Weselton let the class leave. She then grabbed Anna, spun her so that she faced her and made sure no one was listening in when she asked; "Now how do we get her to talk to us?"

This made the usually happy-faced Anna frown. "If I knew that I would be talking to her all the time," She said "I mean she doesn't even talk to mom and dad. It surprised me that she talked to Jack." Anna looked at Merida, then added "You know you could try just to talk to her, you might have better luck then I had."

"Aye that's the problem lass." Merida said with a look that rarely flashed her face. "I'm scared." she looked away "What if she turns me down? What if she laughs at me? And even worse what if she just ignores me, like she does with everyone else?" She sighed and looked Anna in the eyes again "I don't think I can handle it if that happened!"

Anna leaped forward and hugged Merida. "Elsa would never laugh at you," She said gently "I may not have talked to her in like forever, but Elsa is kind, I know this much. You have to talk to her, you'll never know otherwise" she pulled back and looked at Merida with a fierce determined look and then added "And if she ignores you, she'll answer to me!"

Merida didn't know how to answer that with anything else than "Thank you." She decided to go outside and look for a place to shoot her bow and dragged Anna with her. She didn't know if she was allowed to shoot it on the castle grounds, she had to ask Professor Fitzherbert about it, but scouting the best places couldn't hurt and they needed fresh air after Weaseltowns class.

As she walked outside, moving her stiffened body, she thought of her conversation with Anna. It was strange, how much she cared for Elsa. She didn't even know her very well, she had never talked to her. Merida knew herself pretty well though, she knew that she had to do something about these feelings or they would consume her, she knew that Anna was right.

* * *

Somewhere inside the castle, in an emty classroom, Elsa was thinking something similar. She didn't consider talking to anyone. She only considered her strange fascination with the adorable redhead that had been sorted into Gryffindor, the adorable redhead that weren't her sister. Merida DunBroch the professor had called her.

She had never talked to her, she couldn't risk that. She hadn't heard anything about her. She was however illogically infatuated with the girl. She didn't know what to do with these feelings. She liked when things were straightforward. She loved logic. She hated the irrationality of the situation, though she couldn't hate the feelings she had or the girl that these feelings revolved around.

It was one of the reasons she had such trouble controlling her ice magic. They were controlled by feelings. Something that more often then not had nothing to do with logic. That was what Jack had told her anyway. The wizard family Frost had a talent, an affinity for Ice magic. Without incantation or wand some of the family members could control ice and snow. It wasn't a power that could be turned off. Only controlled.

It was a talent that often skipped a generation and it hadn't been since Jack Frosts time it had been as powerful as Elsa was. When she was younger Elsa had hurt Anna because she couldn't control it. She wouldn't allow it to happen again. Until she was in control, Elsa would be alone. She couldn't interact with Anna, Merida or anyone else for that matter, until she had it under control.

She really wanted to though. She looked out a window and saw the two adorable redheads talking and laughing together. "Why don't you just talk to them?" a voice beside her inquired. Jack frost was floating beside her with a knowing smile. "You like your sisters new friend right?"

Elsa rolled her eyes. "You know that I can't do that. What if I hurt them?" Jack sighed before he answered, "I've told you a thousand times, nothing good will come from you keeping yourself from interacting with others. I did that almost my whole life until Tooth came into my life and smacked some sense into me."

"Just because you learned it when you met someone doesn't mean I will." she said with annoyance in her voice, "What did she do that taught you control anyways?"

"She stole my heart and calmed me down, maybe this girl will do it for you."

"What if I won't calm down? What if my feelings get out of control and I hurt her? Have you considered that?" She wasn't shouting, but it was close to it. The room she was in had cooled down considerably and frost started to form on the window. As she noticed this she bolted from the luckily empty classroom, away from Jack.

She ran to the only place she could let her powers free, outside. She didn't see where she was going. She just needed to contain it. If she had stayed in the castle she would have frozen it solid, out here it would at most start snowing.

She ended up at the lake. Out of breath she sat on a rock, as she watched it freeze over. She felt the new snow on her shoulders. She relaxed and let it out for a moment.

"Hey, are you all right?" she heard a concerned voice behind her. She turned her head and froze, no pun intended, when she saw who it was. Merida continued, "I saw you run out of the castle like a dragon was chasing you."

Elsa stared at Merida for about a minute before she said, "I'm fine." and turned her head towards the now frozen lake. She knew she didn't look fine.

"Are you sure?" Elsa could hear that Merida walked closer. Without much thought she turned to face Merida and half-shouted, "I said I'm fine!" and out of anger and fear, frost shot out of her hands.

Elsa panicked for a few moments and when she saw that she miraculously she hadn't hurt Merida, she ran again, leaving her there astonished. Merida wasn't entirely sure what had just happened. Why had Elsa conjured up ice?

* * *

In the week to come the little incident at the lake hadn't deterred Merida in the slightest. Elsa had been upset and in came a first-year that knew nothing of her. She was still confused about the ice thing but she let that go. Their little meeting at the lake had given her the courage to talk to her again.

Though in the week that Merida tried to talk to her, she had been painfully ignored. Every time she walked up to her Elsa would just go somewhere else. Even if Merida only tried to look her in the eyes Elsa would avert them. At the end of the week Merida felt defeated and thought she might as well stop; Elsa clearly didn't want to talk to her.

All of this was observed by Anna. She had kept herself out of it at Meridas request. She had heard about their encounter at the lake. It wasn't easy to watch. It had made her remember the time Elsa had started ignoring her. But she respected Meridas wishes to leave it up to her.

That was until she saw the pain in Meridas eyes, as she realised that she was defeated, that she couldn't do anything. She couldn't just sit and do nothing. Anna knew that Elsa had a good reason. She always did, for everything. She knew that Elsa loved her and therefore could accept that she was ignored.

This was different she could accept it if it was only done to herself, but if Elsa started doing it to her friend and hurt her in the process? This was something she just couldn't accept. It was time for her to do something, it was time for her to tell her sister she was being mean. It was time to get mad!

She quickly searched the castle until she found Elsa, talking casually with Jack. When she saw Anna walking up to her she widened her eyes, then averted them. "Elsa I need to talk to you," Anna said with fire in her eyes.

"Go away Anna." she said simply and walked towards the Ravenclaw tower.

"Oh no you don't get to ignore me this time!" The anger in her voice made Jack jump, as much as a ghost can jump and he said "I think i'm just gonna go.." as he floated away with haste.

"Please Anna, don't do this!" Elsa pleaded, they were close to the riddling knocker of Ravenclaw.

"You can't stop me this time! You can ignore me, that's fine. I know you love me. I know you never do anything without a good reason." Her voice was a little sad as she said this, but picked up the anger again as she continued, "But you don't get to do this to my friend! Do you know how much courage it took to approach you? How heartbreaking it was when you ignored her? You could have done ANYTHING else and it would have been fine! I know you always have a good reasons for what you do, but in this case you don't even have that excuse! there is never a good reason for this."

They had now reached the entrance to the tower. Anna was out of breath from chasing Elsa and her outburst. They just stared at each other for a little while, Anna having said what she wanted waited for Elsa to say something and Elsa shocked by said outburst. The silence was quelled by the knocker, "If I have it, I don't share it. If I share it, I don't have it. What is it?"

"A secret." Elsa answered simply, "Well said." the knocker replied, as Elsa disappeared into the tower, before Anna could stop her. As the door closed, Anna turned on her heel, incredibly unsatisfied with her sister, not as angry as before now that she had vented a bit of her anger, but still angry.


	3. Chapter 3, Fly Like an Owl

Hey whoever reads this. If some of the technical terms for anything magical are wrong, it's because i read the books in danish, when I was younger. I had my doubts about this chapter. I both hate and love it somehow. I tried to rewrite it, but any other way felt wrong. I hope you enjoy it. **\- The Curiosity of Tom**

* * *

 **Fly Like An Owl**

A few days had passed since Anna had her outburst. Not much had really changed, other then the fact that Anna would be mad whenever she thought of Elsa. The first-year students were overcome with excitement. Later that day they would start flying classes.

"You're going to love flying," Astrid told Merida at the moring table.

"I know I'm not," Anna said with a little fear in her voice, "I tried my dads broom a little, when I was nine, it didn't end well. I doubt it'll go any better today."

"Oh you're going to be fine!" Astrid smiled and turned to Merida again, "what do you think?"

"I enjoy riding horses, a broom sounds like it could be a whole lot more fun. I'm though worried about how sore my butt will feel at the end of the day."

"A horse doesn't come close!" Astrid said with a little laugh, as the owls arrived with the letters, "and you don't have to worry about your butt, broomsticks are enchanted with cushion spells."

"There is something a horse can give you that a broom never will." Merida said, as she received a letter from an owl. "A friend. No matter how much I might end up enjoying flying I'll still ride Angus."

She looked at the letter in her hand. It was addressed to her but she didn't recognise the handwriting. It was neat, nothing like her own. This handwriting was something her mother had tried to get Meridas to be. She had failed of course.

Merida overheard Astrids annoyed response to her earlier comments and opened her letter:

 _Merida,_

 _I from the moment I saw you, I knew that I wanted to talk to you. I knew from the start that I shouldn't. When you approached me at the lake that day, you caught me at a bad moment. I'm sorry for my reaction, and for ignoring you afterwords. If you approach me again, I will ignore you again. I'm sorry for that as well, please forgive me for that. It's not that I don't want to talk to you, it's that I can't. If you can forgive me I would love it if we could write letters. I know it's a bit silly, but I hope you'll accept anyway. Please tell Anna that I'm sorry and that I love her._

 _Elsa Frost_

Merida looked to the Ravenclaw table looking for the blonde. Their eyes met and Merida saw a bit of fear in her eyes before Elsa turned away. Merida sighed and looked up at the clear sky in the ceiling.

Anna and Astrid looked at her stangely. It appeared that they had for a little while tried to talk to her while she was in her own little world. She didn't know what to say to them. When Anna asked "Merida are you all right?" Merida just handed her the letter.

As Anna read the letter, she started smiling. She laughed a little, a single tear ran down her cheek. "I knew it," she whispered and met Meridas eyes, "I knew there was a reason."

"Thank you," Merida said as she pulled Anna into a hug and asked, "What am I going to do?"

"Answer her of course." Anna pulled back a little so she could look Merida in her eyes, "Get her to stop ignoring us. If anyone can do it, it's you."

"But what do I say?" Merida was still a little dumbstruck by the letter, but now Anna and Astrid could hear the fear in her voice.

It was Astrid that answered this time, "Anything. Get to know her. I would suggest starting with the reason she was ignoring you" she smiled a little and then stood, "come on classes are starting."

As they walked outside for flying classes, with the students around her buzzing from anticipation, Meridas head was filled with what was in Elsas Letter. Elsa had said that she wanted to talk to her, this part made her heart warm and her belly full of butterflies.

She thought of Elsas reason. What was it she was so afraid of? It was something that had stuck with her since she had started to ignore Anna. Merida smiled, the reason Elsa had ignored her wasn't something she had done but she frowned when she realised the fact that Elsa isolated herself from everyone alive because of this reason.

As Merida had this last thought it downed on her, Elsa only avoided the living. She was afraid that if she was around people she would hurt them. Was she being threatened? Or did she think that she herself was dangerous? Why would she think that she was dangerous?

Merida turned to Anna to ask about the time Elsa had started ignoring her, but found that her friend was fidgeting nervously. She looked around and saw that they had arrived at their class. She decided to ask Anna later and focus on the class.

Flying class was fun, even with her thoughts clouded in worry. Their flying instructor, professor Pan, had showed them how to hold the broomsticks before sending the students in the air. Merida smiled when she felt the cushion enchantment, happy that this bit was true.

As Astrid had predicted Merida loved flying. Merida felt free in the air, as if she could go anywhere. Not restricted by the land. What she especially liked was when she could go fast. As she looked at her classmates she saw that she was good at this, as the others flew around clumsily.

When the class was over Astrid approached her, "Dude we should join the Quidditch teams together! Your flying skills are awesome."

Merida raised a brow "Is it that wizard sport with stupidly many balls I've heard so much about?"

"Yeah. I think you would make a great seeker!" Astrid continued with an abnormal amount of excitement for her, "I'll try for a beater."

"I don't think so. Someone explained the rules for me, they're ridiculously stupid. One hundred and fifty points for the team that catches the wee little golden ball? The opposing team need to be depressingly far ahead for that to matter."

"Are you kidding me?" Astrid asked with disbelief, "it's the best sport in the world!"

"You might as well pitch two seekers against each other and see who catches the snitch first."

"Many teams throughout history have won against the team who caught the snitch! Catching it is not as easy as it sounds. The teams have plenty of time to earn points!"

Merida rolled her eyes at this, "Yeah but you have to have a 160 point lead. Isn't it depressing to have to rely on one player to carry the team, unless you have a ridiculous lead?" Merida sighed before she added, "No matter what you say Astrid, I won't try for the team. I'll cheer for you, if you make it, but it's not for me."

"I'd try for the team with you, if I had

Fly Like An Owl

been any good," Anna said as she massaged her butt, she had landed on it a couple of times, when she fell off her broomstick during class.

"Thats all right Anna, they don't have any open spots in the team at the moment anyway," she looked at Anna with a worried look, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah. I think so," Anna replied as she laughed a little, "I'm just a little sore."

They were about to go to their next class, when Merida stopped the two, "There is something we need to talk about." she said. Anna and Astrid looked at her with curiosity, as Merida continued to explain her observations about Elsa.

As Merida finished she looked at an alarmed Anna and asked, "Can I ask what happened, Anna? Do you remember when she stopped talking to you?" She was trying to be gentle as she asked, even though it was hard with how unnerved she was herself.

They were still outside, they hadn't gotten far from where they had their flying lessons. Anna realised that she desperately needed to sit down and digest this. She had always wanted to know the reasons Elsa had isolated herself, but she had never imagined it to be something like what Merida had suggested.

She spotted a bench, walked up to it and sat down. As the other two followed she just said, "Just give me a minute." After a moment of pondering she thought back to that time and spoke, "It was a couple of years ago, and we were playing in the snow. We had done this often, it was one of our favourite things to do. I jumped around in piles of snow, jumping from one to the next."

A bit of guilt was added to her voice at the next part, "Elsa warned me I was going to hurt myself. More then once. She had this worried tone, I should have listened to her. I dismissed her. I was having too much fun, and I thought she was overreacting. That was until I hit my head, very hard. It was so bad that we had to rush to St Mungo's. The healers were able to fix it, though I did get this white streak in my hair as a reminder."

She pointed at her hair where the streak was before she continued, "It wasn't immediately after, that she stopped talking to me. We stopped playing in the snow, and even inside." She sighed, "Before this we had been inseparable, but after this incident Elsa just drifted away from me, until she would ignore me completely. When I asked my parents about it, they said to give her time. That Elsa would return to me when she was ready."

Anna looked at her friends, the fear in her eyes now replaced with sadness and determination, "I could wait it out then, because I thought that Elsa would figure it out and come back to me. But now we have to do something. Where should we start?"

"I guess I'll start with writing that letter." Merida said, encouraged by Annas determination "I bet I can get a clue as to what it is."

"We should also find Jack Frost and see what he knows," Astrid chimed in, "he is after all the only one she is talking to directly."

As Astrid finished Anna pulled them both into a hug with all of her strength, "Thanks guys," she whispered, with silent tears now flowing down her cheeks, "thanks for helping me bring back my sister."

Astrid chuckled, "What were we going to do, not help you? Were your friends. Of course we'll help you. Besides this one is quite stricken with your sister. She is probably nearly as eager as you." As she added the last bit, Astrid nodded towards Merida, who blushed a little bit.

As they walked back to the castle they continued to discuss how they could figure out what was bothering Elsa. They had entirely forgotten about classes, until a very annoyed professor found them wondering the halls looking for the ghost of Ravenclaw, which earned them all detention.

They were sent back to their classes very distracted with their new mission. It was a miracle no one of them were asked questions so that they could lose points, as they absent-minded staggered through classes.

Merida spent her time wondering how she should write the letter. She could probably just outright ask Elsa. She had admitted there was a reason, so asking would be natural, expected even. She doubted she would get an answer.

When the classes were over they searched the castle once more for Jack Frost. They found a lot of things, learned a lot of the castles secrets, even got lost a couple of times before going back to the common room empty-handed, tired with the knowledge that they wouldn't be able to continue the next day, as they had detention. They didn't say much else then "goodnight" as they went to bed.


End file.
